A Lossy Graph Model for Delay Reduction in Generalized Instantly Decodable Network Coding

The problem of minimizing the decoding delay in Generalized instantly decodable network coding (G-IDNC) for both perfect and lossy feedback scenarios is formulated as a maximum weight clique problem over the G-IDNC graph in . In this letter, we introduce a new lossy G-IDNC graph (LG-IDNC) model to further minimize the decoding delay in lossy feedback scenarios. Whereas the G-IDNC graph represents only doubtless combinable packets, the LG-IDNC graph represents also uncertain packet combinations, arising from lossy feedback events, when the expected decoding delay of XORing them among themselves or with other certain packets is lower than that expected when sending these packets separately. We compare the decoding delay performance of LG-IDNC and G-IDNC graphs through extensive simulations. Numerical results show that our new LG-IDNC graph formulation outperforms the G-IDNC graph formulation in all lossy feedback situations and achieves significant improvement in the decoding delay especially when the feedback erasure probability is higher than the packet erasure probability.